baked sweet and sour chicken

- 3-4 chicken breasts
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1½ cup cornstarch
- 3 eggs, beaten
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons ketchup
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 20 ounce can pineapple chunks, drained
- 1 green capsicum chopped into large pieces
- 1 red capsicum, chopped into large pieces
-  Tablespoon Cornstarch


1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper.

2. In separate bowls, place cornstarch and slightly beaten eggs. Dip chicken into cornstarch then coat in egg mixture.

3. Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken until browned. Place the chicken in a 9 x 13 greased baking dish.

4. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine sugar, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, soy sauce, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch and garlic salt. Add the drained pineapple, and peppers. Pour over chicken and bake for 1 hour.

Shanghai noodles

When you're cooking this dish, you will not need to use salt due to the use of the soy and oyster sauces. Also, I don't like the taste of pork, so instead, I used beef.

- ⅓ cupdark soy sauce
- ¼ cup oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1½ tablespoons fresh ginger, finely minced
- 225g pork tenderloin, sliced thinly (I used beef)
- 225g thick round egg noodles, cooked according to package instructions
- 2 tablespoos vegetable or peanut oil
- 4cloves garlic, sliced thinly
- 6 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
- ½ head wombok cabbage, thinly sliced
- 1½ tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 1 cup chicken stock
- 1½ tablespoons sesame oil
-Ground white pepper to taste


1. To make the marinade, combine the soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and ginger and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Place the pork in the marinade and let sit for 10 minutes.


2. Heat the oil in a wok or heavy skillet on high heat and fry the pork for one minute or until done (set the reserved marinade aside). Remove the pork and set aside.

3.Next fry the cabbage and green onions along with the garlic for 30 seconds or until tender.

4. Return the pork to the pan along with the reserved marinade, the sesame oil, chicken/cornstarch mixture. Cook for 30 seconds. Add the noodles and stir until combined. Add white pepper to taste.

Chicken and broccoli stir fry

- 225g chicken breast, cut into pieces
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup soy sace
- 1/2 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- 2 medium garlic cloves, grated
- 2 tsp sesame oil, optional but recommended
- 2 Tbsp oluve oil, divided
- 225g brocolli, chopped
- 1 small onion, sliced
- 100g white button mushrooms, sliced

1. Trim chicken breast of any excess fat and pat dry with paper towels. In a medium bowl, toss chicken breast with 1/4 cup flour until evenly coated. Remove chicken to a plate (leave remaining flour in the bowl – you’ll use it for the sauce)

2. To make the sauce: in the bowl with remaining flour, add 1 cup chicken stock, 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/2 Tbsp grated ginger, 2 cloves grated garlic and 2 tsp sesame oil (if using) and stir until smooth. Set aside.

3. Heat a wok or large heavy-bottomed skillet on medium high heat and add 1 Tbsp olive oil. Once oil is hot, add chicken pieces and spread out evenly. Let chicken sit for a minute before stirring, then stir fry 5 minutes or until browned. Remove chicken from heat and set aside.

4. Add another 1 Tbsp of oil to the pan. Once oil is hot, add small broccoli florets, onions and sliced mushrooms to the pan and stir-fry 4 minutes, or until mushrooms are softened and broccoli is crisp-tender.

5. Stir the sauce again then pour it your hot vegetables. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Simmer 2 minutes or until sauce is thickened then toss in chicken and cook another 30 seconds or until heated through. Season to taste with salt if needed and serve over hot rice.

Shish Barak

I had been looking for this dish since my next door neighbor brought me some in. The only problem was that they couldn't really speak English,  so I never knew what it was. When I saw the picture of the dish, I thought it might've been it, so I had to try it. Yes, it turned out to be the same. Also, I cheated a bit with this recipe. I have a Lebanese grocer down the road from me and found he already had the dumplings made, so I used them. I'll admit, I prefer just the soup. I didn't like the texture of the outside of the dumplings.

Shish Barak Dough:

5 cups of multipurpose flour
1 and 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 and 1/4 cups of water
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1/2 cup of warm water (to melt the yeast)
1/8 teaspoon of sugar (to melt with yeast)
Meat Stuffing Ingredients (20 servings)

Stuffing for the dumplings:

1 lb of lean ground beef
1 teaspoon of Lebanese 7-spices
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of salt (to taste)
2 small red onions finely chopped
1/4 cup of pine nuts
Some Olive Oil
Shish Barak Stew Ingredients (4 servings)

Soup:

1 lb of Labneh
6 cups of water
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 heaping teaspoon of dried mint powder
1/2 teaspoon of dried cilantro leaves
1 lemon (juiced)
1/2 teaspoon of salt (or to taste)
Note: If using Greek yogurt instead of Labneh, then use 5 cups of yogurt and 1 cup of water


Meat Stuffing Preparation Method

 Sautee the onions with a bit of olive oil until they start turning pinkish (10 mins)
Add the ground beef, 7-spices, salt, mix well and then sautee until the beef is cooked (10 minutes)
Add the pine nuts in the last 5 minutes. The meat stuffing is now ready.
Dough Preparation Method (20 mins)

Mix the dough ingredients in a food processor (or knead with hands) and let rest for a few minutes.
When ready, place dough on kitchen counter that’s been dusted with flour, and flatten into a large disk the thickness of 2 dimes (1/8th of an inch).
Using a bottle lid (or small cookie cutter), cut the dough into disks the size of a quarter (3/4th of an inch in diameter)

Place cut dough on a plate that’s been dusted with flour
Place 1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon of meat stuffing in the center of each dough piece, fold edges in and close them on the meat, then pull edges around and fold them on one another, then flatten the sides to make it all look like a “hat” or ravioli.
Line up all the dumplings on a flour dusted plate

Soup With Labneh:

Pour 6 cups of water and 1 lb of labneh in a pot, mix well until all Labneh is dissolved, then place on stove over medium-low heat and keep on stirring gently until it reaches a boil, at which time you turn the heat to low. Add 2 crushed cloves of garlic. Add the dried mint powder and cilantro leaves. Add 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of salt (to taste) Add juice from 1 freshly squeezed lemon. If you’re using goat yogurt you can skip this step.

Add the Shish Barak dumplings, bring the stew to a boil again, and then stir gently on low heat for 15-20 minutes until the shish barak dumplings are cooked.
Serve hot as a soup


Cooking Method 2, With Greek Yogurt:

Pour 5 cups of plain yogurt (Greek yogurt) and 1 cup of water in a pot and stir continuously on low heat until it reaches a boil. It is very important that heat is very low and stirring is constant otherwise the yogurt may break apart and can’t be salvaged
Follow steps 2-7 above

Iraqi carrot rice

- 2 cups coarsely chopped carrots
- 2 cups coarsely chopped onions
- 2 cups Basmati rice
- 500g minced meat
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp allspice
- 3/4 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp salt

1. In a pot over medium-high saute the carrots and onion in a tablespoon or two of oil, until onions just wilting.

2. Add the spices and seasonings, then the minced meat. Saute until meat is just browned.

3. Stir in the rinsed and drained rice until coated in the mixture. Add boiled water until just covered, cover, and reduce heat to low. Leave for 20-25 minutes until tender. Fluff with a fork.

lebanese chicken and rice (minus the chicken)

This recipe called for a whole cooking chicken and then you use the stock that the chicken was cooked in. Instead, I left out the chicken and made only the rice and used campbells chicken stock instead.

- 2 cups long grain rice

- 1 tablespoon butter

- 2 teaspoons salt

- 1 tablespoon allspice

- 2 teaspoons cinnamon

- 4cups reserved chicken stock

 - 1/4 cup sliced almonds

- 1/4 cup pine nuts

- 113g butter


1. Wash and drain the rice. In a medium pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter, add the rice and sauté for 2-3 minutes.

2. Mix in the salt, allspice and cinnamon, stir and add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the rice is tender.

3. While the rice is cooking, sauté the almonds and pine nuts in butter until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Mix into the cooked rice. 

whatever cookies

This recipe is the best! They taste great and you can have them plain, or you can throw 'whatever' you feel like into them... choc chips, bits of fruit, nuts, muesli,  the list is endless.

- 110g softened butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 cup self raising flour
- 1 cup of 'whatever' goodies you feel like


1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease 2 baking trays.

2. Cream the butter and sugar, then add egg and beat well.

3. Add the sifted flours and the goodies you chose and mix.

4. Roll mixture into balls, pkace on trays amd bake for 10-15 mins.